Letters: LNG, immigration, wind farms, financial regulation

Be a gracious winner I do not support any particular Beaverton school athletic program, so I feel free to make a comment about a headline on Saturday's sports cover, "Late rally lets Beaverton bring out the broom," (April 17).

The term "swept" has been used figuratively for years to describe one team losing every game of a series against another. But to my dismay, when I read that Beaverton "celebrated by running around the field with a broom," the headline became literal. It brought home what most athletic programs, from the amateurs to the pros, have not only endorsed but also promoted as acceptable behavior.

One lesson I learned early in life was that the sting of being on the losing side was tantamount to learning what it means to be a gracious winner. Showboating has no place anywhere, especially in an educational environment. I am disappointed by such behavior, and I hope the Beaverton coaches will prevent this type of behavior in the future.

DOUGLAS DRURY Beaverton

It's about the unarmed Jim Bellah ("Hero is also lucky," Letters, April 17) wants people to remember the many times that police officers, such as Sgt. Mark Cooke in Newberg, face gun-wielding persons and are able to defuse the situation without the use of deadly force. That is commendable, but even if deadly force were used in those situations, there would be little public scrutiny.

The scrutiny comes when deadly or excessive force is used against a person who does not have a gun or any other weapon. That is the troubling issue that law enforcement needs to address.

JOHN DUMAS Gresham

Pay aheadIf Kenneth Lewis wants to pay more taxes ("Let my tax cut expire," In My Opinion, April 17), he doesn't have to wait more than eight months for his taxes to go up in 2011. The Treasury Department will happily accept donations over and above what our legal tax obligations are.

I suggest that anyone who thinks he doesn't pay enough tax go ahead and set a good example by paying more now instead of waiting until everyone else is forced into it next year.

NEIL WEINREB Lake Oswego

Reluctant 'yes' to LNGIt pains me to endorse "'Yes' to LNG" (Letters, April 17) from Tom Ivancie of Energy Action NW, but to this environmentalist it makes sense. Retrofitting all 18-wheelers to homegrown natural gas seems like a major step to achieving energy independence and would obviously require the expansion of the LNG infrastructure and its jobs. Just as important, it would begin the replacement of coal, our least desirable fuel source, with something cleaner and safer.

We should work to build a future with fewer scenes of strip mining ugliness or death underground, as experienced by another Saturday letter writer, Sharon Shawn ("Send them into the mines").

ROBERT BRESSLER North Portland

ICE program is rightI first want to applaud Jordan Cunnings' stance on the issue of Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("Federal immigration agents don't belong in Oregon's county jails," OregonLive.com, April 16); his reasoning appears to proceed from very humane and noble sentiments. That said, his general stance is absurd.

He seems to think that the situation is complex, when it is really quite simple: To live within the borders of our nation, a large number of people from various nations have broken a law to get here; have often broken other laws to stay; and so long as they live here, they are breaking the law. ICE's presence must be increased and made so pervasive as to eject the continuous lawbreakers, whether by direct legal action or through the fear of their crimes being discovered.

Oregon is humane to make an attempt to reach out to various communities in the interest of making the populace safer, but it has neglected a very important message: Legal immigrants have nothing to fear and are welcome in our nation as our duly adopted brothers and sisters. Illegal immigrants are unwelcome, and while they need not fear being treated cruelly, we encourage them to fear our laws -- and most important, respect them.

KEITH MOORE Sherwood

Harmful 'green' effortsThe state of Oregon and the city of Portland try so hard to prove they are the most politically correct and environmentally green. How misguided this is, is easily shown by this blind determination of senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley to stop the Air Force from blocking a wind farm because of concerns over radar.

It is a well-known fact that wind farms destroy bat populations because the wind farms eliminate the bats' ability to use radar for navigation. On any given night, a bat will eat at least 2,000 mosquitoes that potentially could be carrying disease.

At times like this, I wonder if "green" is really in our best interest if we cause more damage to the environment by throwing it out of balance with the destruction of bat populations that keep infectious insect populations in check.

ANDY REID Southeast Portland

Demand regulationOn Friday the SEC filed suit against Goldman Sachs alleging the bank defrauded customers, yet Republicans in Congress are united again in opposition to the Obama administration's efforts to re-impose regulations on the banking industry.

Tells you where the money is, doesn't it? Voters need to demand that the whole financial industry be strictly regulated for the public benefit, no matter what the lobbyists are telling Congress.